High performance server farm with tagging and pipelining

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to a network switch that determines when specific content is hot and directs flow to one or more cache servers. The architecture can include a tag generator to generate unique tags corresponding to a server in a plurality of servers, a content pre-fetching algorithm to retrieve information before the information is requested by determining the hotness of the information, and a cache server in which stored information is configured based upon the relative degrees of hotness of the stored information.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application claims the benefits under 35 U.S.C.§119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/223,087, of the same title, filed Aug. 4, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The present application is related to U.S. Patent Applications entitled “Intelligent Demand Driven Recognition of URL Objects in Connection Oriented Transactions” and “Non-Intrusive Multi-plex Transaction Persistency and Secure Commerce Environments”, both of which are filed concurrently herewith and have the same named inventors as the present application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates generally to load balancing, network switches, and particularly to network switches capable of performing intelligent load balancing of flows while maintaining transaction coherency.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Businesses are rapidly becoming computer and network dependent. Web technology is adding momentum to E-Commerce deployment by providing user friendly front ends for applications. Continuous access to and instantaneous responses from the hosted services are essential for successful client/server applications. Down times and slow and/or erroneous responses can lead to customer frustration and sales losses. Accordingly, there is an increasing demand for server high availability and performance.

[0004] To achieve the levels of server availability, performance, and scalability (in view of the time dependent, dramatic spikes in website usage), a farm of servers or server farm with one or more intelligent Internet protocol or IP switches are typically employed. The IP switch performs load balancing of Internet Protocol or IP traffic across the multiple servers based on information contained in one or more layers of the OSI network model (i.e., Layer 7 or the Application Layer, Layer 6 or the Presentation Layer, Layer 5 or the Session Layer, Layer 4 or the Transport Layer, Layer 3 or the Network Layer, Layer 2 or the Data Link Layer, and finally Layer 1 or the Physical Layer). The group of servers is typically identified by a single global IP address. Traffic destined for the global IP address is load balanced across the serves within that group based on the workload of the servers with source IP address and selected server address affinity. All clients accessing the servers see only the global IP address and are indifferent to the number of replicated servers within the farm and to which specific server their traffic is being forwarded.

[0005] A number of different types of IP switches are in use.

[0006] One type of switch, including Layer 3 and/or Layer 4 switches, route incoming packets based on the destination IP address or the combination of IP address, protocol ID, and transport port number. This switching technique can be problematic in a Web environment. To a Layer 4 load balancer, all of the Web applications appear to be using TCP port 80 (typical port for HTTP), making them indistinguishable from one another. Accordingly, a Common Gateway Interface or CGI request looks no different from a Web-enabled Service Access Point or SAP application or streaming audio request, even though all of these requests have very different Quality of Services (QoS) requirements.

[0007] Another type of IP switch is known as a Web switch, which is a new generation of networking specifically designed to address the unique requirements of Web traffic. Web switches are “smart”—armed with sophisticated Universal Resource Locator or URL load balancing capabilities, Network Address Translation or NAT, and embedded Domain Name Server or DNS intelligence, and use complex policies to manage and speed Web traffic flows. Web switches are able to optimize Web traffic because they look into the HTTP payload down to the URL and cookie to determine what content is being requested. As used herein, a “cookie” refers to information stored on a client or peer at the request of a server. Cookies typically include a description of the path range of URLs for which that cookie is valid and are appended or tagged to a server response. The information in the cookie is, of course, defined by the server. As will be appreciated, URLs identify only the content requested and do not dictate where the content should be found. With the knowledge of the content requested, the Web switch employs user-defined and/or pre-set policies to determine which flow security rules are enforced, which content is allowed or denied, and which QoS requirements are needed for specific content or users. This provides flexibility in defining policies for traffic prioritization—enabling tiered services and compliance with Service Level Agreements—and the ability to use sticky connections and user authentication, which are critical requirements for E-commerce.

[0008] Web switches use a highly-scalable multiprocessor framework that evaluates policy only at flow (session) set up. Once a flow is set up, all subsequent packets within that flow are cut-through at wire speed via high speed forwarding circuitry on a per port basis. This approach of “flow set up once, switch all other packets” enables the complex classification of traffic at the URL level while achieving the price/performance of Local Area Network or LAN switches.

[0009] The web switch determines which Web server or cache is best able to handle the specific request at that moment based on criteria such as proximity of the user to a server, the server's condition, the condition of the network path, and which content has been requested. Web switches intercept all traffic destined for a Web site. This permits the switches to track content requests and to predict hot content before a server becomes overwhelmed. Web switches dynamically replicate hot content to a Web cache and bring the cache into the load balancing rotation, ensuring a continually positive user experience, despite wide fluctuations in Web site traffic. Web switches also track which servers have delivered specific content and send new requests for that content directly to the appropriate server, resulting in improved server cache coherency and performance.

[0010] Web switches, however, have problems. For example, Web switches can unnecessarily parse a packet for a number of packet fields. In certain applications, there is no need to process packets intensively for a routing decision to be made. Server farms also fail to use the information collected by the Web switch in organizing content for rapid access. As a result, requests can take longer to process than is necessary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] These and other needs are addressed by the architectures and methods of the present invention.

[0012] In one embodiment, the invention provides a network flow switch that is coupleable between a communications network and a data server farm. In one configuration, the network flow switch is configured as a Layer 2, 3, and 4 Web switch and assumes the global IP addresses of a server farm and receives all transaction requests from clients on behalf of the server farm. A “transaction request” refers to any signal, whether or not in the form of a packet, that requests or otherwise initiates work by one or more servers, such as causing the server(s) to provide requested information stored in the memory of the server(s) or to compute information based on information referenced or provided by the signal. The switch inspects any combination of URL and content type to route requests and set access priority; parses to determine the requested URL; selects the best able server to retrieve the content; and thereby builds a URL database of source server with reference count (or hit counter) and expiration timer (or time stamp). Repeated requests are directed to the same server, which may be a cacheable server. Using content reference count and the expiration timer, the switch can calculate the combination of access frequency and recency and thereby detect the “hot” content. Frequently requested content is thereby efficiently segregated and cached even among a cluster configuration of network flow switches.

[0013] In one configuration, the switch operates in separate tagging and digesting modes. In the tagging mode, the switch generates a tag that is uniquely associated with a selected server in the server farm. The tag is appended or concatenated to a field in the packet, such as the URL or a server generated cookie. When the switch parses the packet containing the transaction request and identifies the tag, the packet is immediately routed to the server associated with the tag. In the digesting mode, the switch generates a digest based on one or more of the source- and destination-related invariants. Information associated with the transaction request is stored in the cache at a location determined by or based upon the digest.

[0014] In another configuration, the content reference count or hit counter is used to determine or configure the content stored in the cache server. For example, the hottest content can be stored at a more accessible location in the cache server than other content. Alternatively, the content associated with hot content can be stored in close proximity to the hot content in anticipation of more frequent access.

[0015] In another configuration, the cache server “pre-fetches” content based upon the hot reference count. For example, selected content typically contains or includes URLs pointing to related content. The cache server can, upon receiving a transaction request for a first content, retrieve the content associated with the hottest associated URL in anticipation of the next transaction request received from the same client. The associated content “pre-fetched” by the cache server can change with time as the hot reference counters of the various associated URLs change. In this manner, the content pre-fetched by the cache server at any one time has the highest probability of being the next content requested by the client.

[0016] The architecture and methods of the present invention can have a number of advantages relative to the prior art.

[0017] First, the switch can more rapidly route transaction requests to the appropriate server by using tags with minimal processing by the switch.

[0018] Second, the switch hotness data can be used to configure the data stored in the cache server to provide for more rapid and efficient information retrieval.

[0019] Third, the switch can pre-fetch content associated with requested content based on a near real-time assessment of the relative hotnesses of the associated. This advantage coupled with the prior advantage can represent substantial savings in processing resources and faster response times for clients.

[0020] Fourth, the switch, when compared to Port 80 traffic redirecting switches, can reduce storage and computing resources required by the cache server cluster (i.e., an interconnected network of cache servers that act as a single repository of cached pages) while maintaining the same rate of bandwidth savings. A “cache server” interrupts the transaction requests intended for origin servers and serves them from its storage) while an “origin server” is the server for which a selected transaction request was originally intended or originated from (e.g., the server identified by the packet cookie). Port 80 switches must terminate all connections at the cache servers regardless of whether there is a cache hit or miss and caches all pages including ones from origin servers that will not be accessed again for long periods of time. The switch can address these two problems by providing wire speed switching for cache hits, wire speed switching for the majority of cache misses, and identification of hot URLs and origin HTTP servers to increase the cache hit rates of the cache servers.

[0021] Fifth, the switch can serve as a reverse proxy for the server farm by intercepting and accepting all connection requests from clients on behalf of the server farm.

[0022] Sixth, when the HTTP and HTTPS requests and responses pass through the reverse proxy, the switch can parse server-generated cookies to deliver seamless processing to user requests.

[0023] Seventh, the switch can, on incoming traffic flows, perform flow filtering, classification, traffic pattern learning, and priority shaping.

[0024] Eighth, the switch can be strategically placed to intercept all the HTTP traffic from browsers, direct them to HTTP cache servers and thus deliver faster responses and provide better Web surfing experiences to clients.

[0025] Ninth, the switch can provide significant computational and memory savings relative to other types of network switches. Conventional flow switches using a cache typically maintain a table of objects corresponding to signals processed by the switch. The switch searches through the table from top to bottom or from bottom to top each time a switching decision is to be made to locate a pointer associated with the object. Depending upon which end of the table is first searched, the objects at the top or bottom of the table have short search times while objects at the other end of the table have relatively long search times. Substantial computational resources are consumed for each switching decision, thereby limiting switch capacity. Additionally, substantial memory space is required to accommodate the table, causing objects to be periodically flushed from the table before the useful life of the object has expired. The methodology of the present invention does not have to search through a table each time a switching decision is made as the digest value points the processor directly to the location of the object being searched for.

[0026] Finally, a cluster of switches can be employed as the switches are highly scalable. Digest information and/or tagging information is shared by the various switches in the cluster. This sharing provides not only redundancy but also scalability.

[0027] The above-described embodiments and configurations are neither complete nor exhaustive. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of the invention are possible utilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a server farm using the flow switch of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the components of a content director according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030]FIG. 3 depicts data structures of data objects in the data store according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the operation of the SSL processor according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032]FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the operation of the IFS according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033]FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the operation of the cache processor according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034]FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the operation of the digest generator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035]FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the operation of the cache server upon receipt of a transaction request from the network switch according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0036]FIG. 9 is a flow chart of the operation of the intelligent flow switch upon receipt of a response according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The Components of the Network Switch

[0037] The present invention is preferably embodied as a server computer system identified as a content director server in FIG. 1. Multiple content director servers 100 a-n are grouped together as a cluster to support, in a preferred embodiment, e-commerce-type HTTP transactions. A server farm 104 includes origin server(s) 108, dynamic content server(s) 112 and/or cache server(s) 116. Traffic managers 120 a-n perform load balancing by known techniques across the cluster of content directors. A router pool 124 including routers 128 a-n route packets from the communications network 132 to the traffic managers 120 a-n.

[0038] Each content director server, as generally shown in FIG. 2, includes an intelligent flow switch 200 for efficiently routing HTTP transactions based on invariants in and associated with IP data packets. An decryption or SSL processor 204 is optionally provided to off-load encryption and decryption operations involved in both secure session negotiation and actual computations. A cache processor 208 is also optionally provided to cache in cache 212 frequently requested, or “hot” content. URL digests are generated by digest generator 216 and stored to a local digest store 220 as well as replicated, directly or indirectly, to other network flow switches in the common cluster.

[0039] The content director 100, in the process of redirecting HTTP traffic, learns the traffic pattern of HTTP requests, by monitoring the URL identifiers requested by the client browsers (not shown). When a tunable threshold is exceeded (the hot URL threshold), all HTTP request flows of traffic intended for the newly found hot (origin) server are redirected to the cache servers 116. A “flow” refers to all transactions between a client and a server or between two peers in a connection session. At the same time, requests for infrequently accessed URLs are switched directly to the origin servers 118 without cache server 116 intervention. In one operational mode, the content director intercepts all HTTP traffic transparently and redirects it to cache servers 116 without special protocols or packet tags. The cache servers 116 make spoofed connections with clients (not shown). Content directors also load balance the HTTP traffic to the members of the cache server cluster using known techniques, such as a round robin or a number-of-connections-served basis.

[0040] The content director 100 switches non-HTTP traffic to its original destination, and, initially, all HTTP flows to their respective origin server 108. The requested URLs are snooped on the wire by the content director to build up a hot URL database of the traffic pattern. Message digests of URL identifiers are stored in the hot URL database or table in cache 212. As flows to some servers become hot (i.e., the number of requests for an object in a server received in a predetermined period of time meets or exceeds the hot URL threshold), that server's IP address is entered into the hot IP database and new connections to that hot web server are then redirected by the content director to the HTTP cache servers 116. The redirected or switched flow is referred to as a switched flow while an unswitched flow to an origin server is referred to as forwarded flow.

[0041] The content director 100 maintains outstanding flows to the same origin server 108 before redirection and allows the flows to complete without interruption. All virtual circuits of HTTP connections are maintained between the browser (or its proxy) (not shown) and the origin server (or its proxy 108), between the browser (not shown) and the HTTP transparent cache server 112, and between the HTTP cache server 112 and the origin server 108. As used herein, a “virtual circuit” is an established TCP/IP connection between two end points.

[0042] When the traffic pattern to the hot server cools down, its IP address will age out from the hot IP or URL database in cache 212 and traffic to that server reverts back to its normal flow. The various components of the content director are discussed in more detail below.

The SSL Processor

[0043] The SSL processor 204 performs authentication and security association; participates in negotiating the cipher algorithm and establishing master secret calculates session keys and assigns session-ID; handles the HTTPS messages in ciphered text and relays them to HTTP servers serving transaction requests in clear text; and caches the session context with session-ID for re-connections. As will be appreciated, the initial SSL handshake deals with the selection of a cipher, the exchange of a master key, and the authentication of the server. After the handshake stage is complete, the client and server agree on the cipher algorithm, master secret to derive session keys for message encryption, and a session-ID assigned by the server to identify the agreed context. As will be appreciated, the SSL processor typically terminates an unsecured session with a client as a prerequisite to initiating a secured session with the client.

[0044] The SSL session-ID is the common thread of multiple SSL sessions. In SSLv3, the session ID is transported over a TCP connection in clear or plain text in the second and thereafter connections. In SSLv2, the first time when the SSL server returns the session-ID in the initial handshake, the session-ID is encrypted. To find out the session-ID, the processor has to participate in the establishing of secure context. By offloading the cryptographic processing from servers, the resources of cryptographic acceleration can be better utilized by all servers in the farm 104.

[0045] As noted, the SSL processor 204 caches session context, session-ID, security association, and virtual host information for re-connections. Entries in the cache (not shown) of the SSL processor are typically indexed by session-ID.

[0046] The SSL processor can be any conventional hardware/software for performing authentication and/or encryption/decryption. As will be appreciated, security protocols other than SSL can be used between the client and server, depending upon the application, e.g., Virtual Privacy Networks “VPNs” (or IPsec).

The Intelligent Flow Switch

[0047] The intelligent flow switch or IFS 200 (also referred to as the switch component) selects one of the servers in the server farm 104 based on a packet's payload, such as an embedded invariant, forwards requests to the selected server, receives the responses from the server and returns them back to the client. When the request and response messages pass through the IFS, the IFS parses server-generated invariant or secure session invariant to deliver seamless processing of client requests to the selected server in the farm in a persistent manner. The IFS parses all the HTTP responses for server-generated cookie and HTTP requests for user returned cookies. The IFS binds all of the transactions threaded by the same cookie to the server that generated the cookie invariant. By sharing the knowledge of the invariant associations among multiple content directors 100 and off-loading the CPU-intensive encryption computations to distributed processing, the IFS can also increase the overall fault tolerance and performance of the server farm and provide an incremental growth by demand for e-commerce infrastructure.

[0048] The IFS memory maintains in memory a number of data objects to facilitate IFS operation. For example, the IFS maintains optionally a record of rules and/or policies selected by the network manager regarding server selection for different types of packets (e.g., “hot” packets, “cold” packets, etc.); a table of IP address look-ups; a current connection table (for maintaining a record of all current virtual circuits for wire speed packet switching) that includes source invariants (e.g., URL, port address, and other determined fields), destination invariants (e.g., URL, source socket 3-tuple, and other determined fields), session ID, persistency timestamp when the last packet from a client was received for the subject URL (for aging out entries from table that equal or exceed a predetermined age, the age being based on an statistical estimation of the likelihood that the client will return as part of the same transaction or session based on the time of last packet receipt), cookie name and value, and/or other selected invariants; and optionally a tagging table containing tags generated by the content director, and source and destination invariants. Each entry in the current connection table and/or tagging table may be indexed by one or more of source invariant, destination invariant, and/or cookie name and value.

The Cache Processor and Cache

[0049] The cache processor 208 acts as the processor interface between the IFS 200 on the one hand and the cache 212, digest generator 216, and digest store 220 on the other. The cache processor thus retrieves data requested by the IFS 200 stored in the cache 212 and/or digest store 220 that correspond to payload invariants parsed by the IFS 200 in a packet and forwarded to the cache processor 208.

[0050] The cache 212 includes the hot URL table that includes both frequently requested, or “hot” content (e.g., URLs), and less frequently requested content (e.g., URLs). The hot URL table typically includes the following fields: source invariants (e.g., URL, port address, and other associated fields such as hot content or a secondary URL corresponding or associated with the primary (hot) URL or other type of qualifier), destination invariants (e.g., URL, source socket 3-tuple, and other determined fields), cookie name and value, a timestamp indicating when an entry was last updated (for aging out entries from table that equal or exceed a predetermined age), a hit counter, optionally a tag (generated by the switch when in the tagging mode), and/or other selected invariants. Each entry in the hot URL table is typically indexed by destination invariant(s) and/or cookie name and value.

[0051] Lease terms are typically rules or policies determined by the network manager. Lease terms can, for example, include the maximum life of the record, limitations or restrictions on access by a client of a server or server cluster, routing directions for a packet if hot, how hot the content is, priority, restrictions on access to selected content, and hit counter reset policies

The Digest Generator and the Digest Store

[0052] The digest generator 216 receives destination invariants (e.g., URL and cookie value) from the cache processor 208 and converts the invariants into a digest. Although any digesting method can be employed, hashing is preferred. The preferred hashing algorithm is as follows:

L=h(K), with

0<or=L<or=M, for all keys K

[0053] where K is a portion or all of a selected URL or URL identifier, h is the hash function which uses message digest or MD “fingerprint” K as the input argument, L is the location of K in the hot URL table, and M is the size of the hot URL table.

[0054] The selection of h should be fast in computation and minimize collisions. A collision occurs when a different key K′ computes to the same L. When a collision happens, an alternate location from the bottom of the hot URL table is found and linked from the home location. A circular linked list is used to chain all MD “fingerprints” with the same hashed value. A head tag at the home location indicates the head of the circular list. When a new record is found, a record in an alternate location occupies its home location; the alternate location record has to be displaced. Deletion of a record in the home location will cause relocation of another record in the collision chain. As will be appreciated, other hashing functions can be employed depending upon the application.

[0055] The digest records, as held by the digest store, are generally of the form shown in FIG. 3. As replicated, a cache identifier 300 (which is the same as a hash value and is shown as MD5 Value) is added to the digest records so that subsequent digest look-ups also produce an identification of the particular local object cache that may contain a requested object. The record further includes destination IP 304 which refers to the destination IP address of the server, lease terms 308, hit or access counter, a timestamp (not shown) indicating when an entry was last updated (for aging out entries from table that equal or exceed a predetermined age), and/or other selected invariants.

[0056] When a request for a URL object is received, the content director 100 uses the cache digests 300 from its peers to find out which of its peers have the desired object and to retrieve the object from the director's peer without sending queries to all neighbors. Based on the above, it is apparent that a cache digest 300 is a summary of the cached contents, in a compact format, or an indication of whether or not a particular URL is in the cache. Stated another way, the cache digest 300 is a pointer to a specific location in the memory of the cache 212 where a one or more objects corresponding to the hash is located.

Operation of the Content Director for Incoming Packets

[0057] The operation of the content director will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-7.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 4, an incoming packet (that has been load balanced by a traffic manager 120 (FIG. 1)) is received in step 400 by the SSL processor 204 (FIG. 2). The SSL processor 204 in step 404 first performs security association and authentication by known techniques to verify the identity of the client and/or the client's eligibility to access the website. This is typically performed by digital certificate authentication.

[0059] In step 408, the SSL processor 204 determines whether the packet is encrypted. If so, the processor 204 decrypts the packet in step 412 by known techniques to convert the cipher text into plain text. In step 416, the plain text packet is sent to the IFS 200 (FIG. 2) for further processing. The SSL processor 204 then returns to step 400 to process the next packet.

[0060] Referring to FIG. 5, the packet is received by the IFS 200 in step 500.

[0061] The IFS in step 516 determines whether the packet is in HTTP. If not, the IFS sends the packet to the origin server in step 520 and returns to step 500.

[0062] If the packet is in HTTP, the IFS parses the packet in step 524 for selected fields, e.g., destination invariants such as the URL and cookie (if one is present), source invariants, and/or other payload invariants. In a persistent HTTP connection, the client may send multiple requests and the same number of responses are returned from the server in the order of requests in a single connection. The IFS scans each request for its cookie and makes the server association based on the cookie persistence. The IFS must therefore break up the single multiple request to multiple single requests and send them each to properly selected servers based on the embedded cookie in each of the requests. The IFS must also keep track of the responses from the servers and return them to the client in the same order of the requests.

[0063] In step 504 if the content director 100 is in the tagging mode the content director 100 proceeds to step 508 to generate a tag (if a tag is not already present in the packet). Based on the destination invariants, the content director 100 generates the tag and concatenates the tag onto the cookie. When the response is provided to the client, the cookie and appended tag are saved by the browser to the client's memory. When a further request is provided by the client, the cookie and appended tag are included in the packet request payload. The content director 100 parses for the cookie, identifies the tag, and directs the packet directly to the server associated with the tag. If the packet has no cookie because the client has not yet visited the server farm, the tag is generated and concatenated onto the cookie when the response is received by the content director 100 from the server farm. If multiple cookies satisfying the criteria of domain, path, and max-age selections are returned in a request, the cookie with the most restrictive path attributes is used to determine the server persistence. The packet is then forwarded to the origin server in step 512 and the IFS returns to step 500 to await the next packet.

[0064] In one configuration, the tag is generated based on the cache or origin server serving the URL in the transaction request. Each server is assigned a unique server identifier (which can be alphabetical, numerical, or alphanumerical). The IFS determines the unique server identifier corresponding to the subject server and appends the identifier to another tag in the packet, such as the cookie generated by the server. The bit size of the tag is generally much smaller than that of the cookie. In one configuration, the tag is only generated and appended to the cookie when a previous response to forwarded by the server to the client (or when the outbound flow from the servers passes through the switch).

[0065] The content director can operate in one or more modes. In one configuration, the content director operates only in the tagging mode. In another configuration, the content director operates only in a digesting mode. In the digesting mode, digests are generated, content hotness is monitored, and transaction requests are routed to servers based on hotness and/or cookie. In another configuration, the content director operates in both modes simultaneously. In other words, the initial client/server pairing for a transaction is based on the hotness of the requested content. Later transaction requests from the same client include a server tag associated with the respective server initially assigned to the client and are routed directly to the respective server.

[0066] In switch cluster, the tags generated by one switch are provided to the other switches in the cluster to provide more efficient switch cluster operation, as another switch in the cluster can receive the subsequent transaction request containing the embedded tag.

[0067] If the content director is not in the tagging mode, the IFS in step 528 forwards the fields to the cache processor 208.

[0068] Referring now to FIG. 6, the cache processor in step 600 receives the destination, source, and/or other payload invariants from the IFS. The cache processor 208 in step 604 compares the invariants to the hot URL table in the cache 212 to determine in step 608 whether the content has been previously requested within a predetermined period of time (the persistency period) and if so in step 612 whether the content is hot. In one configuration, the cache processor compares the name of the cookie and its value with those listed in the table and, if a match is found, the path is compared to the URL for a head match. A destination server is determined by the match entry.

[0069] If the content has not been previously requested within the persistency period, the cache processor 208 determines in step 616 if the packet is an “HTTP GET” request. If not, the cache processor 208 proceeds to step 620 (discussed below). If so, the cache processor 208 sends the invariant(s) to the digest generator 216 in step 624.

[0070] Referring to FIG. 7, the digest generator 216 receives the digest request from the cache processor in step 700. The digest generator in step 704 generates the digest for the destination-related invariant(s), in step 708 copies the digest, timestamp, destination-related invariant, and lease terms (the digest generator determines the lease terms based upon rules/policies in the digest store) to the digest store 220, and in step 712 sends the digest, timestamp, and lease terms to the cache processor 208. The digest generator then returns to step 700.

[0071] Returning again to FIG. 6, the cache processor in step 628 receives the digest, timestamp, and lease terms from the digest generator 216 and in step 632 initializes a reference counter. The cache processor 208 updates in step 634 the hot URL table and proceeds to step 620 (discussed below).

[0072] If the packet information is in the hot URL table in step 608, the cache processor next determines whether the content requested by the packet is hot in step 612. The URL of the packet is hot if the hit counter is at or above a predetermined level, namely the hot URL threshold. If the URL is hot, the hit counter is incremented and the timestamp updated in step 636, and the hot URL table is updated accordingly in step 638. The cache processor 208 then sends the pertinent response to the IFS in step 620 (discussed below). If the URL is not hot, the hit counter is incremented and timestamp updated in step 642, and the hot URL table updated in step 646. In step 650, the cache processor again determines if the URL meets or exceeds the hot URL threshold (in light of the counter being incremented). If not, the cache processor proceeds to step 620 (discussed below). If so, the cache processor in step 654 performs a reverse domain name service or DNS look-up to discover all IP addresses that are serving the particular domain that served the hot URL page. In step 658, these addresses are written into the hot URL table. The cache processor then proceeds to step 620.

[0073] In step 620, the cache processor 208 sends the pertinent response to the IFS. If the content requested by the packet is hot, the cache processor sends a message to the IFS indicating that the content is hot and providing a list of IP addresses that are serving the particular URL in the packet, and provides any pertinent lease terms. In one configuration, the cache processor also informs the IFS of the degree of hotness, e.g., the value of the hit counter. If the content requested by the packet is not hot, the cache processor sends a message to the IFS indicating that the content is not hot and provides any pertinent lease terms.

[0074] Referring again to FIG. 5, the IFS 200 receives the response from the cache processor 208 in step 530. Next in step 532, the IFS 200 compares the parsed fields in the payload (e.g., source IP, destination IP, and source socket 3-tuple) to those listed in the current connection table. If there is no match in step 534, the IFS 200 must determine if there is a new connection in step 536 (or whether the packet is part of an existing virtual circuit). This is performed by determining by examining the header flags (SYN) in the first packet that the IFS received for the connection. If the SYN flag is not set, the packet is assumed not to belong to an existing virtual circuit, and, if the SYN flag is set, the packet is assumed to belong to a virtual circuit established between the client and an origin server before the server became hot. If the connection is new, the current connection table is updated in step 540 by adding a new entry that includes at least the source IP, destination IP, and source socket 3-tuple of the packet payload.

[0075] Whether the connection is new or old, the IFS next determines whether the URL in the packet payload is hot in step 544. If the URL is not hot, the IFS proceeds to step 548. In step 548, the IFS reassembles the packet and in step 552 sends the packet to the origin server. The IFS then returns to step 500 to process the next packet.

[0076] If the packet payload is hot in step 544, the IFS determines the pertinent hot or cache server address in step 556. This is done by examining the list of hot IP addresses and lease terms received from the cache processor 208, the queues corresponding to each of the IP addresses (to determine which cache server has the shortest queue), and/or the rules/policies in the memory of the IFS. In step 560, the packet is reassembled with the pertinent IP address and in step 564 sent to the pertinent cache server. In one configuration, the IFS uses Cache Array Routine Protocol (CARP) to divide cacheable URL objects among the cache servers. The highest value of hashing computations of cache proxy member identities and the requested URL provide a deterministic routing resolution path. Only a minimal reassignment of URL cache locations is required because URLs are directed to the cache proxy with the highest hashing score.

[0077] The IFS then repeats step 500 for the next packet to be received.

[0078] Returning again to step 534, if there is a current connection or existing virtual circuit, the packet is forwarded to the origin server in step 580 and the IFS returns to step 500.

[0079] After content becomes hot, one or more cache servers establish a connection with the origin server containing the content. The cache server(s) obtain a copy of the URL from the origin server and commence serving the URL from its/their own cache.

[0080] The operation of the cache servers will now be discussed with reference to FIG. 8. In step 800, the cache server receives the transaction request from the content director. In step 804, the receiving cache server must determine whether it can serve the packet. The server cannot serve the packet when the cache server has not yet cached the particular URL in the packet when initially received, the packet request method is not an HTTP GET request, and/or the request is not a cacheable type of request. If the cache server cannot serve the packet, the cache server in step 806 readdresses the packet and sends the packet to the origin server.

[0081] If the cache server can serve the packet, the cache server in step 810 processes the packet. The cache server readdresses the packet and redirects the packet to the origin server over a new or existing connection. The origin server returns the URL to the cache server (if the URL is cacheable). The cache server saves a copy of the URL and returns another copy to the client.

[0082] The cache server in step 808 pre-fetches further content (or associated sub-URLs) or pipelines based on the hotness of the sub-URLs referenced in the content corresponding to the URL in the present transaction request. By way of example, if two sub-URLs are referenced in the content and each sub-URL has a different degree of hotness (a different number of hits in its corresponding hit counter), the cache server assumes that the sub-URL with the greatest number of hits will be the next URL requested by the client. The cache server can retrieve the content corresponding to that URL (or the URL itself) before the next transaction request is received from the client. The time required to process the later request will thereby be greatly shortened.

[0083] In step 812, the cache server can store the content to be cached in location(s) that provide the most efficient server farm operation. For example, in a geographically distributed server cluster what content is hot can vary by geographical region or location. For example a selected content can have a first level of hotness in a first region and a second, different level of hotness in a second, different region. The content can therefore be cached in the region in which the content is hottest. In this manner, a cache server in the first region would have different cached content from a cache server in the second region. Alternatively, the hot content can be stored as part of the same server cluster where associated hot content is stored. In other words, if selected content is hot any content associated with that content (whether or not hot) is copied and stored in the same cache server cluster with the hot content. In another configuration, the URL's associated with a hot URL can be linked by known techniques to the hot URL. In another configuration, server clusters are tiered such that certain server clusters store information of a first degree of hotness (or higher) and a second, different set of server clusters store information a second degree of hotness (that is less than the first degree of hotness) and hotter content (but not as hot as the first degree of hotness). In another configuration, content associated with hot content (even if the associated content is not hot) is stored in close proximity to the hot content (such as in the same cache server or cache server cluster).

[0084] In one configuration, the position of content in a cache server is based upon the degree of hotness of the content. In other words, as content becomes hotter, the content is moved to a more accessible or higher position in the cache server such that the first and most accessible item in the cache server has the most frequent (and therefore highest number) of hits and the least accessible or lowest item in the cache has the least frequent (or fewest number) of hits. Thus, the content director 100 can instruct the various cache servers to reposition or relocate the memory addresses of content based upon the fluctuating degrees of hotness of the content over time. In other words, at a first time the content director may instruct a cache server to move a first content to a first position in the stack of content in the server and at a second time instruct the cache server to move the first item to a second, lower or higher, position in the stack, wherein the frequency of hits of the content at the first and second times is different.

[0085] As will be appreciated, cache servers either periodically check or revalidate on-demand the freshness of the cache contents. Cache servers instigate an expiration timer on each cacheable object based on the object's popularity and maximal age and last-modified time bestowed by content servers.

[0086] Referring again to FIG. 1, multiple content directors 100 a-n form a cluster to increase redundancy and performance by sharing the knowledge of server application established invariant. The shared information is distributed among all cluster members as shown by link 136. No one node is a single point of failure. At cluster transition of addition or deletion of a content director, only a fraction of shared information needs to be redistributed.

[0087] As will be appreciated, accessing information deep in the application layer content directors afford the opportunities to enforce certain pre-defined traffic policies and class of services. The content director can learn flow patterns of the server farm to facility by delivering of services adapted to the flash changes of demands and authenticate users for service differentiation. It can perform flow filtering, classification, learning, priority shaping, and forwarding. With content awareness, it can separate cacheable from non-cacheable URL requests directing to servers that may be better able to handle requests, or may even serve requests from its own cache.

Operation of the Content Director for Outgoing Packets

[0088] Referring now to FIG. 9, the operation of the IFS on outbound packet flows will now be discussed. In step 900, the IFS receives the response from the respective server. The IFS receives all outgoing packets or HTTP responses. In step 904, the IFS parses the selected fields (typically the same fields are parsed as for an incoming packet). In step 908, the IFS determines if the content director is in the tagging mode (discussed above). If the content director is in the tagging mode, the IFS in step 912 determines if the cookie in the packet is a new cookie. If so, the IFS generates the tag in step 916, appends the tag to the cookie in step 920, and sends the tag to the cache processor in step 924. The IFS then proceeds to step 928 (discussed below). If the cookie is not new, the IFS assumes that the cookie already includes a tag and proceeds to step 928 (discussed below). If the content director is not in the tagging mode, the IFS in step 932 sends the source- and destination-related invariants to the cache processor. The cache processor determines if the parsed fields are in the hot URL table and, if not, forwards the fields to the digest generator. The digest generator generates a digest and creates a record in the digest store. The digest is returned to the cache processor, which creates a record in the URL table at the location corresponding to the digest. The IFS then reassembles the packet in step 928 and sends the packet to the client in step 936 via the SSL processor.

[0089] While the invention is specifically described with reference to a software-based implementation, it is to be understood that the invention may be embodied as a hardware-based device (such as an application specific integrated circuit or ASIC) or a combination of a hardware- and software-based devices.

[0090] While the invention is described with reference to the Internet, it is to be understood that the invention can be employed on other network topologies, whether the network is circuit- or packet-switched, is connectionless or connection-oriented, is synchronous or asynchronous, uses serial or parallel transmission, and/or uses a client/server or peer-to-peer architecture, and/or other network applications. Another application invariant besides a cookie or URL may be used to determine hotness or tagging.

[0091] A number of variations and modifications of the invention can be used. It would be possible to provide for some features of the invention without providing others. For example in one alternative embodiment, the content director also parses responses from the servers to the clients for payload information (e.g., source IP, destination IP, cookie name and value, etc.). This information can be added to one or more of the current connection table and hot URL table. This embodiment has the advantage of providing more comprehensive information regarding traffic flows into and out of the server farm.

[0092] In another embodiment, a pipelined connection with keep-alive scheme can be maintained between the cache servers and content servers to reuse pre-opened connection and help to speed the delivery of non-cached contents. Content pipelining may even open parallel connections to the content servers to concurrently download all the objects embedded within a page, overcoming latencies caused by the Web's back-and-forth loading process. Many web pages have embedded references. While the anchor page is being painted, the browser makes new requests to retrieve the embedded references. An intelligent cache processor can scan the returned content to pre-fetch the embedded objects in anticipation of subsequent requests.

[0093] In yet another alternative embodiment, the content director separates static content servers from the dynamic content servers in the farm based on the requesting URL and content type. Revalidation needs only to be sent to static content servers. The content director can be informed on the policy of contents updating and can purge these objects at the time they are updated. Servers can automatically or manually push content updates to the content director.

[0094] In yet a further embodiment, the content director can allow the policy rules to be configured that specify an action (load/direct/cache) for any request matching some or all of the source IP address, URL, content type or cookie. A “load” rule can be used to direct all requests for certain contents to the best able server based on the load condition at the moment. A “direct” rule will direct the requests of other contents to specified servers and a “cache” rule” will allow the content director to serve the contents from a cache proxy.

[0095] In yet a further embodiment, Squid Web Proxy Cache is used by the content director. The Squid code uses Non-blocking I/O for socket and file read/writes to avoid process creation and synchronization overhead. The content director scans Cookie and Set Cookie MIME headers, saving all cookies in a database and maintaining cookie policies. All other cache functions are removed from the code. Squid uses underlying file system to save cached objects.

[0096] In yet a further embodiment, the URL can be hashed to a storage list in memory and mapped to disk storage of a fixed size to bypass the file system

[0097] The present invention, in various embodiments, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/or apparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, including various embodiments, subcombinations, and subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art will understand how to make and use the present invention after understanding the present disclosure. The present invention, in various embodiments, includes providing devices and processes in the absence of items not depicted and/or described herein or in various embodiments hereof, including in the absence of such items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g. for improving performance, achieving ease and/or reducing cost of implementation.

[0098] The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intended to limit the invention to the form or forms disclosed herein. Although the description of the invention has included description of one or more embodiments and certain variations and modifications, other variations and modifications are within the scope of the invention, e.g. as may be within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, after understanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain rights which include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or not such alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publicly dedicate any patentable subject matter. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A network switch for switching transaction requests among a plurality of servers, the network switch being positioned between the plurality of servers and at least one client, comprising: a parser operable to parse transaction requests to locate one or more selected fields; a router operable to forward at least portions of the transaction requests to respective servers in the plurality of servers and transaction responses of the respective servers to the transaction requests to respective clients; and a tag generator operable to generate a tag associated with a selected server in the plurality of servers, the server being operable to provide information requested by a transaction request, whereby, when a subsequent transaction request is received from the client corresponding to the tagged transaction request, the subsequent transaction request includes the tag and, based on the tag, the router forwards the subsequent transaction request to the selected server.
 2. The switch of claim 1, wherein the tag generator is further operable to append the tag to a server tag generated by the selected server.
 3. The switch of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of servers has a unique server identifier and the tag associated with each server is based on the corresponding unique server identifier.
 4. The switch of claim 1, wherein the tag generator is operable in a tagging mode and is not operable in a digesting mode, and wherein the switch further comprises: a cache operable to store a plurality of objects corresponding to transaction requests associated with at least one of the plurality of servers, the objects comprising field information in at least one of the selected fields located by and received from the parser; a digest generator operable to generate a digest based on the field information in at least one selected field of a transaction request, the digest corresponding to a location in the cache where at least one object corresponding to the transaction request is to be stored; and a cache processor operable to access the plurality of objects in response to communications received from the router.
 5. The switch of claim 4, wherein the digest generator is operable in the digesting mode and is not operable in the tagging mode.
 6. The switch of claim 1, further comprising a decryption processor that decrypts cipher text transaction requests and provides plain text transaction requests to the parser.
 7. The switch of claim 4, further comprising at least one traffic manager located between the network switch and the at least one client and wherein the digest is generated by a hashing function.
 8. The switch of claim 1, wherein the selected fields include at least a universal resource locator and a cookie.
 9. The switch of claim 1, wherein the router includes a current connection table listing active connections between servers and clients.
 10. The switch of claim 4, wherein the plurality of objects in the cache include a plurality of content addresses for specific content and a corresponding hit counter showing a number of instances in a predetermined period of time in which specific content is requested by transaction requests.
 11. A method for switching transaction requests, comprising: receiving, from a first source, a transaction response associated with first source, the transaction response corresponding to at least a first transaction request; parsing the transaction response to locate at least a first field; determining a first tag identifying the first source; appending the first tag to the first field in the transaction response; reassembling the transaction response; and forwarding the transaction response to a destination identified by the transaction response.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first field is associated with a server-generated tag, wherein the first tag is an address, and wherein the first tag is derived from field information in the at least a first field..
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first source is a first server in a plurality of servers and the destination is a client and further comprising: receiving the transaction response after the forwarding step; storing the first tag in the client's memory; and forwarding a second transaction request to an address associated with the first server, the second transaction request including the first tag.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein each server in the plurality of servers has a unique identifier and the first tag is based on the unique identifier associated with the first server.
 15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving the second transaction request from the client; parsing for the first field in the second transaction request; and forwarding the second transaction request to the first server based on the first tag.
 16. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving a second transaction request; parsing the second transaction request for at least the first field; determining a digest value based on field information in the at least the first field; and storing selected information corresponding to the second transaction request at an address based on the digest value.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the second transaction request is in hypertext transfer protocol, the digest value is generated by a hashing function, and the field information used to determine the digest value is at least one of a universal resource locator and a cookie.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second transaction request is in cipher text and further comprising after the step of receiving the second transaction request and before the step of parsing the second transaction request: decrypting the second transaction request.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein storing step comprises: at least one of incrementing and decrementing a hit counter; determining if the hit counter at least one of equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold if the hit counter is incremented or at least one of equals or is less than the predetermined threshold if the hit counter is decremented; and updating a timestamp associated with the stored information.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein, when the hit counter at least one of equals or exceeds the predetermnined threshold, the method further comprises determining a plurality of network addresses associated with content referenced in the second transaction request.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein, when the hit counter at least one of equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold, the method further comprises directing the second transaction request to a cache server in a plurality of servers.
 22. The method of claim 19, further comprising: determining whether the second transaction request is a part of an existing connection between an origin server corresponding to content referenced in the second transaction request and a client; when the second transaction request is part of an existing connection, forwarding the second transaction request to the origin server; and when the second transaction request is not part of an existing connection and the hit counter at least one of equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold, forwarding the second transaction request to a cache server different from the origin server.
 23. The method of claim 22, the second transaction request is not part of an existing connection and the hit counter exceeds the predetermined threshold and further comprising: determining whether the second transaction request can be served by a cache server; and if the second transaction request cannot be served by the cache server, forwarding the transaction request to the origin server.
 24. The method of claim 22, farther comprising: when the hit counter at least one of equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold, transferring content associated with the second transaction request from the origin server to the cache server.
 25. A system for switching transaction requests among a plurality of servers, comprising: an input port for receiving, from a first server in the plurality of servers, a transaction response of the first server, the transaction response corresponding to at least a first transaction request; means for parsing the transaction response to locate at least a first field; means for determining a first tag identifying the first server; means for appending the first tag to the first field in the transaction response; means for reassembling the transaction response; and means for forwarding the transaction response to a client identified by the transaction response.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the first field is associated with a server-generated tag.
 27. The system of claim 25, further comprising: a second input port for receiving the transaction response from the forwarding means; means for storing the first tag in the client's memory; and means for forwarding a second transaction request to an address associated with the first server, the second transaction request including the first tag.
 28. The system of claim 25, wherein each server in the plurality of servers has a unique identifier and the first tag is based on the unique identifier associated with the first server.
 29. The system of claim 25, wherein the input port receives a second transaction request and further comprising: means for parsing the second transaction request for at least the first field; means for determining a digest value based on field information in the at least the first field; and means for storing selected information corresponding to the second transaction request at an address based on the digest value.
 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the second transaction request is in hypertext transfer protocol, the digest value is generated by a hashing function, and the field information used to determine the digest value is at least one of a universal resource locator and a cookie.
 31. The system of claim 29, wherein the second transaction request is in cipher text and further comprising between the input port and the parsing means: means for decrypting the second transaction request.
 32. A system, comprising: a communications network; a plurality of replicated servers connected to the network, all of the replicated servers having a same network address and all of the replicated servers serving the same replicated information, each of the replicated servers being configured to receive a first transaction request associated with an individual transaction and to provide a response to the first transaction request, the response including a first tag that corresponds to the transaction, the first tag being generated by a first replicated server; and a network switch connecting the replicated servers to the network, the network switch being configured to generate a second tag associated with the first replicated server, to append the second tag to the first tag in the response, and to direct to the first replicated server subsequently received transaction requests including the first and second tags.
 33. The system of claim 32, wherein the network switch is operable to store the first tag and to parse the first transaction request.
 34. The system of claim 33, wherein the network switch is operable to decrypt the first transaction request before the network switch parses the first transaction request.
 35. The system of claim 34, wherein the first tag is part of a plurality of stored objects and the plurality of stored objects correspond to the first transaction request and wherein the plurality of stored objects include a hit counter indicating a frequency of transaction requests for content associated with the first transaction request.
 36. A method for providing information from a server to a client, comprising: receiving a first transaction request requesting first information, the first information referencing at least second and third information; retrieving the first information; providing the first information to the client; determining which of the second and third information has been more frequently requested by clients during a first selected time interval; retrieving the more frequently requested of the second and third information and/or an address associated therewith; thereafter receiving a second transaction request from the client requesting the more frequently requested of the second and third information; and providing the more requested of the second and third information to the client.
 37. The method of claim 36, wherein the first information corresponds to a first hot reference counter, the second information corresponds to a second hot reference counter, and the third information corresponds to a third hot reference counter and wherein in the determining step the second hot reference counter is compared with the third hot reference counter.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein each of the first, second, and third hot reference counters indicates a number of requests received for the corresponding first, second and third information during the first selected time interval.
 39. The method of claim 38, wherein in the first selected time interval the second hot reference counter is greater than the third hot reference counter and in a second selected time interval different from the first selected time interval the third hot reference counter is greater than the second hot reference counter.
 40. The method of claim 39, wherein in the first selected time interval the second information is requested more frequently than the third information and in the second selected time interval the third information is requested more frequently than the second information.
 41. The method of claim 39, further comprising: decrypting the first transaction request before the first information is retrieved.
 42. A method for configuring stored information in at least one cache server, comprising: comparing first and second hot reference counters corresponding to first and second information to determine which of the first and second information is more frequently requested; and storing the more frequently requested of the first and second information in a first location and the less frequently requested of the first and second information in a second location and wherein the first location is more accessible than the second location.
 43. The method of claim 42, wherein the first location is located by the server in a search before the second location.
 44. The method of claim 42, wherein the first information is stored at the first location and further comprising: retrieving third information associated with the first information, the third information being less frequently requested than the second information; storing the third information at a third location in close proximity to the first location, the third location being more accessible than the second location. 